Accrington Web - 2017/18 Prediction League; Game 28 v Cheltenham Town (away)

Cheltenham Town

Accrington Stanley

2017/18 Prediction League; Game 28 v Cheltenham (away)

Maidstone United travelled to Woking last Saturday; neither had won a League game since November; there was never more than one goal in it, and each side led twice; they finished 4-4 ............... This week’s starter for 10; how many of the goals were scored in the first 20 minutes of the game, and how many in the last half an hour? Surprisingly, none and none (in that order); all eight goals came between the 21st and 60th minutes (and I understand that some fans demanded a refund on the basis that the last 30 minutes were boring, what with no goals being scored. Innit.)

I mention Maidstone because they went to Whaddon Road in the First Round of the FA Cup back in November................. and won 4-2! Other famous Cup-ties of the Season featuring the Robins were the EFLTroffy group games, all of which finished 2-1 (with Cheltenham only getting the “2” once, and the “1” twice - thereby being eliminated, if not illuminated), and Round 2 of the EFL Cup, where they lost 0-2 to the Hammers, having done Oxford 4-3 away (aet) in Round 1. Four has been a consistent feature in their games this season, having lost their last-but-one League game at Stevenage on New Year’s Day 4-1; last Saturday they went to Colchester, and just before the hour mark Colchester were one up (a “stunning strike” from 25 yards (or “all of 25 yards”, actually) from one Kurtis Guthrie) and a player down, Reid having been sent off on 44 minutes. Suddenly the Voodoo Gods of Football – nothing to do with Lukaku, I have it on good authority – started being mischievous, and Cheltenham put four past the Us to win handsomely, if unusually (see “won 3 in 12” below).

They finished last season 21st in League Two, two points ahead of Newport and four ahead of Hartlepool, with a record of drawing two more than they won and losing six more than they drew (W12 D14 L20, for those who ain’t mathematicians), a -20 GD and 50 points ............ this season they’re 14th (at the moment), with a 9-7-11 record, -2 GD, and 34 points, above Grimsby on GD but below Carlisle (also on GD – 0 plays -2 plays -10) .............. we haven’t beaten them since their last slide down the Greasy Pole, drawing 1-1 at home both last season (our goal by El Tel on 74, their equaliser coming on 89) and this season (Kayden SuperJ putting us ahead, and Mohammed Eisa equalising 2 minutes later), and losing the away leg 3-0 last year as well!

Their last six in the League have resulted in 2 wins (2-0 at Barnet and 4-1 at Colchester), one draw (a half-Desmond v Newport – and You’re Not Laughing Now, Leeds United!) and three defeats (7 points in 6); if you go back six more games, they’ve only won 3 of their last 12 ................... there’s currently only one side in League Two that hasn’t lost in its last five games (Mansfield – W3 D2), but the best points total over five is still Luton, and now also Coventry, both with 12/15. Dunces are 23rd-placed Chesterfield (who now have the worst GD in League Two – minus 25 (26 scored, 51 conceded in 27) - courtesy of the smacking they got at our place last week) and 15th-placed Grimsby, each with one point out of a possible 15, plus Barnet (24th) and Vegan Greenpeace (22nd) who both have 3/15 ...............

You may remember that I reported that VGU had promised four new signings; well, so far in the Transfer Window they’ve brought in six, including Farrend Rawson, Exeter’s Reuben Reid (who was lethal with Plymouth), a defender from Portly Vale, a MF from Notts County who has the same initials as Howard Hughes (except he’s called Hayden Hollis), someone from York, and Dayle Grubb, a free-scoring MF (26 during 2017) from Weston-super-Mare ........ (Do they HAVE “free-scoring MFs” in Weston-super-Mare?) Also, did you see that PNE have signed Louis Moult from Motherwell (it’s a “career move” apparently, although I wasn’t impressed when we loaned him from Stoke), plus BrizzleR’s Billy Bodin, and have loaned Ben Pringle (whose family make crisps – or is it jumpers?) to Oldham .............. Colchester, on the other hand, have signed a duo from Maldon and Tiptree FC – nicknamed “The Jammers”, I gather, for reasons which will be obvious if you look at the labels on the jars of preserves in Booths ...............

They’ve released three in the transfer window – Alex Davey to Boring’em Wood in the Bananarama, Kyle Storer to Job Centre Plus, and Daniel O’Shaughnessy to Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi (which translates as "The Football Club of Helsinki", by all accounts) ............they’ve ProperSigned three since the season started – Jaanai Derece Gordon-Hutton, a forward from West ‘am, Alex Davey, a defender from Chelsea, who they signed, loaned to Torquay and then released to Boreham Wood and, last Friday, winger/striker Sanmi Odelusi (once of Wigan (3 games) and Bolton (6 games)) from Colchester, for whom he played eight times ...... loan signings a-plenty, but you won’t know them, I don’t think, so I’ll not trouble you!

In their 33 games in all competitions they’ve managed 47 goals; leading scorers are Mohammed Eisa (who, you might remember, they signed in the summer from Greenwich Borough) with 12, and Kevin Dawson – most recently with Yeovil (who’ve got Man U in the Cup for the second time in 3 (4?) years!) – who’s got 6 ....................

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 13th January ...........back to winning ways, and Billy Whizz is sticking them in for fun – which isn’t illegal, as you may have thought it was - so every reason to be optimistic ........... except that we haven’t beaten them in three, and recently lost four in a row .............. ho hum!

Good luck to everyone! ....... Keep the Faith! ............ And thanks for playing!

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